UADA : "Crepuscule Natura"

 One of the most convincing black metal bands out of America are back with another grim monument of sound. There are almost rock passages that remind me of the Misfits when it comes to the riffing of the opening track. This works for me as nothing would be more boring than if they just came out hitting you with a bunch of blast beats. The vocals shift from a varied array of croaks, grunts and growls. I get more Immortal like vibes from the title track. It hits you with a denser storm of black metal. Double bass in equal portion to the blasting , though not shortage of speed, hit the deliberate nature of the riffing compensates for this. Is it the most original thing they have done? No, in fact the first song has it beat in terms of originality. At about the 12 minute mark there is a pretty hooky riff, but cool riffs alone does not a good song make. 

At times times they lock into riffs that owe more to the classic roots of metal, and these moment not surprisingly account for the bulk of the melodic elements. Though they show more restraint than what might be expected from your average black metal band today. "the Dark" has a more epic thrash gallop, that carries a bleakly triumphant mood. While this amounts to head banging fun, once again we have heard the band draw from a more inspirational place before. The frolicking guitar harmonies take away some of the ominous mood ."Retraversing the Void" finds them breaking away from the formulas that were coagulating on previous songs where they most purposeful riff what the climax. The twin guitar harmonies on this one owe more to Iron Maiden  than Marduk.  

The last song closes the album with a meeting of the two worlds. Traditional black metal anger and the more melodic nuances from classic metal influences. At times the scowled vocals remain the anchor of the dark world their music is derived from. They do slow into a catchier guitar riff midway into the song that provides a dynamic shift. The strength of this album is it sounds great from a production stand point, along with the execution, they care about writing songs rather than just throwing their spiteful sonic aggression in your face, which put them ahead of most black metal bands. This might not be their most original work , but it is one of their most well done so I will give this album a 9.